How plausible is a world where Nature has largely reclaimed urban and suburban areas, but people live in hyper-compact villages?

This world I'm creating is one of those "small, isolated settlements on the (disaster-stricken/monster/telekinetic zombie-infested etc) road" settings, with the added twist that the total collapse of **modern, Western civilisation** has led to humans living in a symbiotic relationship with nature. Nature isn't *entirely* dominating, but the idea of **urban sprawl** would be unthinkable. **Humans are not to dominate nature; only to live as part of it**. <br><br>I'd heavily based my concept on the idea of the *Japanese forest spirit villages*, only that they would be in a state of *symbiosis* in the relationship. Humans don't just live in accordance with nature, **they live as part of the ecosystem**. <br><br>Now, I know that this sounds a lot like an eco-utopian dream, but I want to ask how plausible, or realistic, this concept is? Is it within the realm of possibility? Or is it a complete fantasy, and I should just roll with it as a dream?